Clement Adam

Ever wanted to get acquainted with ‘real’ local cultures? Smartphone app Wander does just that by randomly connecting users from different parts of the world. The originality of the app is the way it connects people as it provides them with daily photo-based missions that are used as a communication tool. Don’t worry if you can’t speak your interlocutor’s language, communication is made easy using a built-in translator.

Travelers of the Catalan Government Railways (Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya) will have plenty to read over the coming months as the trains are turned into virtual libraries, where 40 books are displayed on posters. After scanning a book’s QR code, travelers are enabled to read the first chapter of every book.

3D printing is becoming a true hype, and origami has always been restricted to the most patient and agile. Christophe Guberan, a third-year bachelor student of industrial design at the University of Art and Design in Lausanne, Switzerland, created Hydro-Fold, a printer that is able to print pieces of origami paper.

If you followed Pop-Up City three years ago, you may remember this piece we wrote about Terrafugia’s early developments in building a flying car. The company recently announced that a prototype of the ‘Transition’ street plane completed its maiden flight on March 23 in Plattsburgh, New York.

Along the lines of the 99% movement (which inspired his ‘Seating for the One Percent’ project), Sebastian Errazuriz adds his own contribution to New York’s street lines. The Chile-born artist and designer transforms lines into dollar sings by painting a white letter ‘S’ across each line.

A messy environment can have destructive effects on your productivity, but isn’t a clinically white room also depressing? The British artist Charlotte Mann seems to have the solution. Mann paints densely detailed 1:1 scale drawings of rooms on wallpapers with a black marker.

Graduation projects are sometimes surprisingly good! Inspired by an old 3D printer, Eindhoven-based student Dirk Vander Kooij came up with the idea to build a machine specialized in making furniture. After getting himself an old Chinese industrial robot, Vander Kooij reprogrammed it into a 3D printer to print furniture using materials from old refrigerators. The result is an award-winning collection of chairs called Endless Pulse.

Camping is fun, but setting up and moving everything can overcome the peacefulness of sleeping in a natural environment away from the city. Shelter Co. is a pop-up lodging service for groups for an overnight outdoor experience. Based in California, Shelter Co. travels and sets up a camp wherever you want it, and if you don’t…